1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the invention relate to an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, relate to an image forming apparatus including a printer which forms an image corresponding to input image data on a recording medium and discharges the recording medium bearing the image to an eject tray mounted at an upper part thereof, and a scanner which reads out the image above the eject tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-295411 discloses an image forming apparatus that includes an image recording device having an eject tray on an upper surface and an image scanner mounted above the eject tray. FIG. 1 shows the structure of the image forming apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-295411.
Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus includes a printer U2 formed with an eject tray TRh on the upper surface, an image scanner U3 having an operation panel PA provided at the upper part of a front surface, while being protruded forward, and a lower protruding part 16 provided at the longitudinal central part and rear part of a lower surface, while being protruded downward, a front part 17 of the lower surface, and a rack U1 connecting the printer U2 to the lower part and having a top plate U1a for supporting the image scanner U3 above the eject tray TRh on the upper surface of the printer U2.
In the above-structured conventional image forming apparatus, since a gap between the eject tray TRh and the image scanner U3 is open forward and transversely, the recording medium (not shown) discharged onto the eject tray can easily be taken out. However, the rack U1 formed as a cantilever, including the top plate U1a, is not stable enough to support the image scanner U3 so as not to droop. Factors that can cause the image scanner U3 to droop can include the weight of an automatic document feeder (ADF) which is mounted on the image scanner U3, the weight of document being scanned, and the weight of the image scanner U3, as well as a sudden impact by a user.
FIG. 2 shows the structure of another conventional image forming apparatus that includes a dedicated support member in relation to the above problem of droop in the image forming apparatus. Referring to FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus includes an image reading device 50S and an image recording device 50P. The image reading device 50S reads out image information from a document, whereas the image recording device 50P produces an image on a recording medium (not shown) according to the image information read by the image reading device 50S, by an electro-photographic system.
The image recording device 50P is equipped with an eject tray 51 onto which the recording medium bearing the image is discharged. The image reading device 50S is disposed apart from the eject tray 51 by a predetermined interval so as to provide a space for removing the recording medium. A dedicated support member 55 is further provided, herein, to prevent the image reading device 50S from being drooped by the weight of an ADF 53 which is mounted at one side of the image reading device 50S. However, the support member 55 can interfere in removing the recording medium from the eject tray 51.